Princess Mononoke
by Pedals for my Magic
Summary: The smallest part in the movie, that most people don't know...Just part of my imagination :P
1. Part 1

**It's not an usual fanfic, it's more like an extension in the movie...Yeah, an extension. Just some very little details in the movie. Just that. I know that there are a lot of people who wrote this kind of story, so I just want everybody, please Read & Review. And do not copy without permission. Please respect the writer and people who has thought so much to give you this...story.**

**Without any waiting, let me introduce to you...**

**PRINCESS MONONOKE: THE UNKNOWN**

**Part 1**

**(When Ashitaka killed Tatarigami and was cursed)**

It was a beautiful morning, although the sunshine was a little bit "intense". Ashitaka, together with Yakul – his beloved red elk, was taking another patrol around the border of the village like usual. He ran from this to another forests (sorry for my bad english :P), looking at the scenery, and looking for enemy who trespassed on his village. When going through the forest near the watchtower, Yakul suddenly ran faster. Ashitaka smiled at the mighty red elk.

'You too huh? Is going under the sun your favorite?' He thought.

Ashitaka was the only prince of the Emishi – a small and remote village in the east. After his parents' tragic death (look for it on FF, if my memory is good, its name is "The Life of Ashitaka"), he had grown up a lot than before. You didn't want to bother people, so he took a patrol on his own. His red elk, Yakul, seemed to know that and understand his "gruesome" pain, so he had followed Ashitaka for a long time, never leaving him alone.

It was more than a minute when they approached a small stone edge near there. Ashitaka climbed up first, and let Yakul go on the board that was put there. Because, he'd already known, that board can't hold both you and his red elk (well since he had eaten a lot since the last time Ashitaka gave him his favorite "omusubi" *lol*).

Yakul go on the board, and lowered his body so that Ashitaka can climb on his back, and then he ran, like a wind, up ahead. Within 3 seconds, they went down a small road that led to the Northern watchtower. When he was going, he saw Kaya and 2 girls going towards him. Remember what Hii-sama had told earlier, he ran as fast as he could to tell them.

"Girls!" Ashitaka loudly said.

The girls stopped talking when they heard Ashitaka's voice. They looked up, and saw Ashitaka running to them.

"Ashitaka!" Kaya answered the call.

'Why do they still looking happy?' He thought worrily.

He ran faster, and stopped in front of them. His face right now was a bit serious like he used to be since his parents' dead, a bit scary – like a big brother worrying about his little sister. In a minute, he seemed to think of something, and then he told them:

"There is something strange going on. You have to hurry. The wise woman wants everybody back to the village at once."

It looked like the girls had known something was going on. Their faces suddenly turned seriously.

"We just came from Ji-san." said Kaya.

"Did he see something?"

"Yes, in the forest." She nodded. "Something is wrong."

"The birds are gone." Kira, one of the two other girls, said.

"The animals too." Nana, the other girls (the other girls *lol*) curiously said.

'So what Hii-sama said is real. I thought she was kidding with me...No. I must hurry. I have to make sure that everyone in the village is safe.' He thought.

"I'll go to the watchtower and check with Ji-san. You three hurry back home and be quick about it." Ashitaka told the girls, then gently kicked Yakul's body and the red elk began to run.

"All right." Kaya said, then ran with Kira and Nana. "Be careful!"

Ashitaka ran with full speed along the small road, the fear inside of him started to boil.

'Hope that I was wrong. Everything will be ok.' He whispered.

It was a moment of time when they reached the watchtower. He climbed up, let Yakul stay down there alone. When climbing a few steps, he heard a strange noise in the forest. Trying to look for what had caused the noise or what had happened, all he could see was darkness. There was something black inside the forest.

"Something's there..." He whispered.

'I have to tell Ji-san.' He thought, and climb as fast as he could to the top of the watchtower.

At the top of the tower right now, Ji-san was sitting there, and looked at the pitch black forest in front of him. Fear went through his old body. Ashitaka then came close, and looked at the forest,

"Ji-san, did you see it too?" He asked the old man.

"I did. And it's not a human."

He turned to look at the village. Everybody must have been in a hurry. People pushed each other at the big gate. Even when sitting here, he could heard the scream that came from the village. Ashitaka began to worry, even when there was nothing happened.

"The wise woman's calling everybody back to the village." He said, ignored Ji-san, who was blankly looking at the two circles, look like eyes, in the dark forest.

"There. Look."

Ashitaka turned back to the forest, took a bow and an arrow, prepare for war. He stared fixedly at the forest.

'What the hell is that thing?'

In the forest, which is in front of the watchtower, there was a bunch of rocks people put there to block the way from the forest to the village, as well as from the village to the forest (sorry, my writing skill is suck :P). Above them, black slugs started to appear. They danced, jumped, causing a stir in the whole area. After what seemed like a minute, everything became silent, creeping silence. Ashitaka was still staring at the forest, with the bow and arrow in his hand.

'Quiet...maybe too quiet...'

Just as he thought everything was over...After a while, the rocks was hit by something enormous. From the forest, something black, big, and have 2 red eyes, fiercely stepped out. Wherever he went, the tracks behind him turned black. It had like 8 legs, which could transform whenever it wanted.

"It's some kind of demon!" yelled Ji-san.

"A demon?" said Ashitaka. He was freaking right now.

The demon went for a while, before it stopped. The black slugs on its body suddenly went up to the sky, showed the fearsome boar shouting in anger. Then those slugs slowly covered its body. Ashitaka still couldn't stopped freaking. When he could actually be less freaking for a bit, he realized: it was heading towards him. On top of that, Yakul was still down there.

"Run! Yakul, run!" He yelled, tried to warn Yakul, but it seemed that because he was too scary, he couldn't hear what Ashitaka said.

He then shot the arrow at the wooden stick behind Yakul, making him awake. He then ran away, let the demon destroy the tower. One of its "legs" had broken. Ashitaka knew that he and Ji-san would both die if he didn't do something, so he hang it onto his body, grabbed Ji-san's waist, and launched to a nearby bush (In your face, bush :P). He watched the demon as he mercilessly destroyed the watchtower, then turned back to Ji-san, who was still scary. It destroyed the tower (just for fun), and then turned to the village, and storm away.

"It's headed for the village." said Ashitaka. He then grabbed the bow. "I've got to stop it." and jumped down.

"Prince Ashitaka, wait! Be careful! That thing is cursed! Don't let it touch you!" Ji-san tried to warn Ashitaka, but it seemed like he couldn't hear.

He ran to the rock where the demon "scratch its back" (I like using that word :P) before heading to the village, whistled to call Yakul. When his red elk showed up, he climb on Yakul's back, and ran away. He chose the road that went through the forest, so that he could both follow the demon and get back to the village fast. He always go side by side with the demon, and glared at its creepy body, waiting for a chance to kill it. When there was half mile away from the village, the demon changed the target. It no longer wanted the village, what he wanted now was Ashitaka. He then turned right, and ran behind Ashitaka.

'It's...nonsense...what the hell...' He thought.

He tried to be calm, perfectly calm, and shouted as loudly as he could so the demon could hear him.

"Calm your fury, o mighty lord! Whatever you may be, god or demon, please leave us in peace!"

But every words he said became useless. It still attacked, still tried to eat him alive. When in front of him was a large meadow, he turned left to wile him to another place. The peaceful Emishi village still not know that their prince was in great danger.

"You know Tamaki who lives next to our house?" Kira said, giggled.

"Yeah I am. He's so handsome." Nana blended in.

"Stop it. Ashitaka's still the most handsome. And also talented." Kaya's word shocked Kira and Nana.

"Girl, you like Ashitaka, don't you?"

"No. No. No." Kaya denied. Her cheeks blushed.

"What the hell is happening?"

Kaya turned around, and she saw Ashitaka being chased by a demon. She was both surprised and scary, pretty scary. Before she could think what to do to help, she noticed: it was looking at her, and was running towards her!

"A monster!" Kaya screamed

"Come on!" Nana said, and ran away.

Ashitaka turned around. There was no sign of the demon. He carefully looked around, and he saw Kaya and two other girls being chased by that demon. He then ran with full speed, tried to block its way. Yakul seemed to be a bit tired, but he hadn't given up, yet. He ran as fast as he could, so it only took him like one or two minute to be in front of the monster.

"Go back! Please! Leave our village alone!" He screamed, tried to calm the monster, but it was all useless now.

He then go slow down a bit and go side by side with the demon.

"Stop! Please! Stop!" He yelled, and stared at the red eyes of the monster. Right now, he then realized, there was something, cold, heartless, dreadful in those eyes. Maybe he had turned into a demon for a very long time, but why, why did he attack this village? What did he attack for? (Thanks my lover for this wonderful statement...Seriously :P).

When thinking why it attacked the village, he then noticed: Kaya and the two other girls wasn't at the village. He tried to scream to tell them, but there was something inside his throat that prevented him from screaming. He had to be silent.

Then everything got worse. Nana was falling down when running. Kaya then ran to her, and tried to lift her arm up.

"Get up!" Kaya expedited her.

The demon had came very close to them. Kaya knew that there wouldn't be enough time, so why not take a risk? So she drew her sword and face the dreadful demon.

"Kaya!" Ashitaka yelled.

'No. I have to do something...quick!'

He then take an arrow from his back, and shot the demon's right eye. It screamed in pain, and he drew back a bit. Taking this chance, Kaya help Nana get up.

"Run!" Ashitaka rushed them. "Come on! Hurry!"

He let Yakul rest for like a minute. The demon had became angrier. All of its legs popped out, and then assembled into one big mess, and headed towards Ashitaka. He kicked Yakul's body to let him run. He tried to run as fast as he could, but it's no match for the demon. Ashitaka lifted his arm, and the demon's legs sticked to the arm. Using every single energy he had, he pulled his hand, leaving dark scars on his arm. He turned around, ducking the legs' way, and shot another arrow into the demon's right eye. It screamed, still in pain, but a little bit pathetic than before. Its legs stopped attacking too. They fell to the ground, leaving black tracks like blister. Ashitaka pulled Yakul's rein to stop him.

'What the hell is that thing? Why is my arm so hot like burning like this?' He thought, tried to do whatever he could to hold the pain.

After a while, the big bad body of the demon slowly appeared. It was a boar. Maybe he didn't belong here. He looked blankly at Ashitaka's dark wound, closed its eyes, and then fell to the ground. Ashitaka's two perfect shots had killed him.

The pain came from his arm had drained him. He tried to calm himself, but...he couldn't. His eyes were closely shut. All he could hear was the villager's voice and most of all, Kaya's voice.

"He killed it!"

"Ashitaka!"

"Fetch the wise woman!"

"Don't put the fire out yet."

llllll

**Maybe it's not...ok to end the story like this, but I don't want to go too far with what I had thought earlier. Like I said, it's only an extension. Imagine we are Ashitaka and we have to suffer from all those pain... *scream hopelessly***

**Please R&R. Only when you review will you have another chapter to read. Please!**

**And I have to thanks my lover for inspiring this story. I love you.**


	2. Part 2

**I'm so excited to hear that only in the first day, I had like 20 views. Now I guess it's 50. Thank you all of you. You guys made a great start. And remember, please R & R (it's not Rock n Roll :P)**

**Shall we start?...**

**PRINCESS MONONOKE: THE UNKNOWN**

**Part 2**

**(The Journey to the West + Ashitaka killed the Samurai)**

"We are the last of the Emishi. It's 500 years since the Emperor destroyed our tribe, and drove the remnants of our people to the east. Some managed to survive here for all these years, but the blood of our tribe has grown thinner and weaker with each generation. Now our last prince must cut his hair and leave us, never to return? Sometimes I think the gods are laughing at us."

Mr. Katsunori – one of the elders of the village – had said his thought, and now, the whole room was silent. Everyone thought of their life, including Ashitaka. Why did the god joke at them like that (sorry for my bad English :P)? They were kind, hospitable. They were more like "angels falling from the sky" (sorry, I have no other thing to say :P). Why all the disaster had to happen to them?

'If I keep staying here, I'm afraid that people won't live in peace. What if I became a demon like that boar?...No...I will have to do the right thing for the people. It's the only way.'

Without any waiting, Ashitaka unsheathed his small knife, cut his traditional bun, and then put the cut bun on the table. After that, he sheathed his knife back to its cover, and hide it away.

'Mom, dad, please protect them, my one and only family right now. Please don't let them have any trouble or affliction, and don't let them fall into devil's hand. Please help them go through all the difficult they have now.'

Then he bowed his head, and turned back to the wise woman. Hii-sama right now looked pretty depressed, but she had to hold them back, because right now it's sad enough. She sighed, and said "farewell" words to Ashitaka.

"Our laws forbid us from watching you go, Ashitaka. Whatever comes to pass now, you are dead to us forever. Farewell."

When hearing Hii-sama's "heartbreaking" statement, everyone was sad, now they were even worse. Ashitaka slightly nodded, and stood up, walked out of the elevated hut. He went down, carefully and sadly looked around. All he could see and could hear was people ignore and "stab him in the back" or parents prevent their kids from talking with him.

"Get inside...He's the demon. Stay away..."

"I don't know why he have to make himself stay in so much trouble like this."

"Get away from me...No touching!"

"Poor our prince. Being haunted by a demon..."

'Can't blame the villager. They don't even know what happened.' He thought, tried to smile at everyone who stared at him. 'I hope everyone will live in peace when I'm gone. Take care of yourself, will you?'

He walked back to his house, quickly packed some small bread for the journey, his straw coat (I didn't mean it :P), his red hood, the red bow and then got out of the house. Sadly looking at the house for the last time, all he could do was nodding his head and speaking silently.

"Thank you for raising me up, Mom and Dad. I'm such a bad son when I can't return anything for our filial relationship (I suck at praying and thank you part. Sorry :P). But please protect and help me when I'm in trouble. Thank you so much. I really appreciate."

Then he walked to the barn where Yakul lived. He was standing there, looking at Ashitaka. The young prince slowly pull the bar that blocked Yakul's "room", stared at the villagers for the last time, and then walked Yakul out of the barn and went towards the big gate. He saw Yakul's face. He guessed his red elk is very "downmood" right now. He caressed Yakul's fur, tried to smile with him.

"Don't be sad. You will come back to see your mate. I just have to go for a while. I will let you go back so that you can reunite with your mate."

When Ashitaka could feel that Yakul was less sad, he climbed on Yakul's back, and walked towards the big gate. But he heard someone calling his name. He stopped, and looked through his shoulder...

[***** ***] (guess what it is :P)

"Ashitaka has to leave the village. It's all my fault. I can't help him. What a loser I am...Oh, there he is. I have to hurry."

I ran as fast as I could just to see Ashitaka. I did call his name "Ashitaka" a couple of time, but it seemed that he couldn't hear my voice. Until when he was near the big gate, he stopped. My heart beating as if it was a F1 racing (hello Fernando Alonso :P). I ran with full speed to see him for the last time of my life.

"Ashitaka!" I said. I was very happy right now.

He turned around. When he saw me, he was a little bit freak out, but his inherent calm was still there.

"Kaya, what are you doing here? You know it's forbidden." Ashitaka said, hurriedly checked around for anyone who was watching them. Seeing him like this, the bast and only thing I could asked for.

I gave him my crystal dagger that I was holding it in my hand. Tears from my eyes just wouldn't fall for once.

"Do you think I care about that? I came to give you this so you won't forget your little sister."

Maybe when I gave him the dagger he looked quite surprised. No comment, duh :P. After a while, when he was completely calm, he started to say.

"Your crystal dagger. Kaya, I can't take this."

He did try to put it back into my hand, but capturing my glance, he stopped, reluctantly took the dagger. At then, my tears started to flow. It was holding for so long that I thought my eyes was gonna popped out. I cried, choked with my breath.

"Please, keep it with you, brother, to protect you." Tears from my eyes just flowed on and on. No matter how I tried, it wouldn't stop. "You must take it with you. Please, I want you to have it, so you won't..." I tried to hold my tears, but the more I held, the more it flowed "... forget."

Ashitaka, after hearing my "with all my heart" words, he pull his hood that was covering his face down, and smiled. His smile was just like the sunshine that heated the cold scenery at that time. His words suddenly made me awake.

"Kaya, you know I could never forget you."

And with those "goodbye" words, he started his eternal journey. Gently kicked Yakul's body, he walked through the door, with a smile on his face. I followed him, tried to speak what I had hidden for a long time, but...there was something that held me back. I chased, but when I was at the gate, I stopped. Watching him going, I smiled, tried to console myself.

'It's okay. He'll be back. Don't be such a weak girl. Cheer up...Ashitaka, I...I...'

[******* ***]

And then Ashitaka hit the road, tried to find a way to cure his "deadly" wound. Even when it was midnight, he still not stop. He went across the dark and humid forests, looked at the scenery around him. He smiled when seeing the white monkey reunite and playing with each other up on the tree, but then he was sad again when thinking about his destiny.

'Now I'm gone. Who will take a patrol around the village? Who will look after all those misery of the villagers? And most of all, who will take care of Kaya? What if she was in trouble?...Shit, why do I have these feeling? Why am I so worried like this?'

Then, up from the sky, a small pigeon flew around, and then swooped down (sorry, I can't find any word ^_^"). He perched on Yakul's head, but it seemed like the red elk didn't like that. He shook his head so violently that he made Ashitaka laugh at his childish reaction. The pigeon left Yakul's head and flew to Ashitaka's shoulder. He just wedged into his head, maybe for warming itself. Ashitaka looked at the beautiful pigeon, stroking the bird's soft fur. It was a cold night, even Yakul couldn't stand. He shook his body continuously. Ashitaka tried to warm him, but with his big body like that, nothing seemed fit to him.

The morning finally came. The pigeon on Ashitaka's shoulder slowly stepped out, straighten its beautiful wing, and then closed them. The beautiful bird gently bounded its head, and flew away. Ashitaka smile, and rubbed Yakul's head, because he looked quite angry because of that bird.

"Ok ok. He's gone now. Don't be angry, ok?" He said, smiled.

It looked like Yakul had forgiven the bird. He then ran fast, across the mountain up ahead. Ashitaka seemed to be startled a bit, because he still not believe he was going that fast. He looked around, searching for someone who was going to kill him or tried to rob him. But luckily, no one else there. The dawn's sunshine had risen, but he put it aside. Yakul ran with full speed to run across the mountain. When the sun is high, Yakul and Ashitaka had been at the top of the mountain. And in front of them right now is a forest.

'Forest again. So awesome...' He thought.

Ashitaka and Yakul went into the forest. This forest was different from Emishi's. It was wider, and of course, brighter. The trees was big and bushy. The small one, the big one, the old one,...all in this forest. A lot of plants and animals lived here too, including deer, monkey, rabbit,...those never appear in Emishi's forest. Especially, there was a small river in front of them now.

Both of them went across the forest to reach the peaceful and fresh river. He glared at Yakul. He seemed tired and hungry. Ashitaka gently stroked Yakul's brown fur.

"It's ok. We will have a rest now."

Then he walked Yakul to a enormous rock near the dark forest ahead. He took the food bag out, took some bread. Before he ate, he gave Yakul first. Even when Yakul was hungry, he couldn't finish even a whole small bread. Well, the time was tough, so they couldn't waste any food they had, even they were the tiniest piece. Ashitaka ate what Yakul left for him, and then feed him another one. After they were completely full (well, Yakul ate more than Ashitaka :P), they took a short rest. Yakul got a spare time to rest, so he bounded down, and put his giant body down to the ground. Ashitaka sat down, gently stroking Yakul's fur and smiled.

'It's been so tough for you. Thank you so much.'

When the sun is at the top, they both stood up. When they were just about to start, Ashitaka realize: the water is high now.

'What to do now? The water is up now...Or...'

He took his bow off, took the coat off, and used the coat to cover the bow and quiver of arrow. He took the belt off, and used that to tie the coat. He put the coat on Yakul's horn. (I don't remember much at this part, please forgive me ^_^''). He took all his clothes off, wrapped them, and put it on his shoulder. After everything was perfectly prepared, he took Yakul's rein, and then crossed the river. Even when it was noon, the water was still cold. Yakul shivered, his hair all freeze because of being cold. Ashitaka tried his best to calm his trepidation.

'Common Yakul. Almost there.' He thought.

After all, finally, they passed the river. Ashitaka took his light blue shirt and dried himself with the shirt. Yakul didn't have to do that. He just needed to shake strongly. After the body was dry, Ashitaka put on his clothes. When everything was done, he unpacked the "mass" on Yakul's head, take the belt and tie at his waist. He took the coat, looked for a while.

'Definitely a village ahead. What do I have to do? Blend in...?' He thought. 'Oh well, safety first, you know.'

He put on his coat, used the hood to cover his entire head, leaving the eyes wide open (dude, you can't see without your eyes :P), hang the bow onto his body. Gently touching Yakul's body, he made his red elk feel tickled. Yakul silently shook his body. Ashitaka smiled, climbed on his back, and the two of the flew away.

[**********]

Only in ten minutes, they arrived at a small remote village. It might look just like Emishi, nothing different, but through Ashitaka's "eagle eyes", nothing could be missed. There, those fearsome cannibal are killing innocent villager.

"A battle?" He wondered, tried to find what else happened behind the black and thick smoke. But what he saw made him surprise a lot.

"No. A massacre" He said, looked carefully at the massacre.

[**********]

The villagers ran just like the bee when their nest was broken, tried to dodge those bad bitches' blade. They want human flesh more than money. They slid every single blade into the villagers' flesh. One man, maybe a farmer, was running away.

"Where are you going? Come back here, you coward!" One "butcher" screamed. When seeing one of them chasing him, he took a rock and throw at him, but he stepped aside, and catched the farmer. He stabbed the knife in his flesh mercilessly. Feeling that it wasn't enough, the cannibal stabbed some more.

"They're unarmed! Move in!" One of them yelled. Now, there were more of those "animal" coming to kill the villagers.

Ashitaka was standing near the field, blankly stared at them. He felt pretty scary when seeing the dead villagers, being killed mercilessly. They are human too, but why are they so scary and cold-hearted like that? What's the point in eating human flesh?

"Look! Up there, on the hill!"

When he was still panic because of what lying in front of him, Ashitaka heard the noise from his back. He turned around, realized that the samurai was coming.

"Samurai!" He murmured.

They stood in line. Some who came late drew the bow, ready to fire. There were about 10 of them. 10 against 1. That was just so not fair.

"It's a warrior!"

"Good! His head is mine!"

They pointed at Ashitaka, and then let the arrow fly. All of the arrows they shot, all of them, missed him. Ashitaka kicked Yakul's body to let him run. But one arrow fell right in front of them. He pulled the rein to keep him back a bit, and then ran away. He followed the path that lied ahead. Those nasty samurai kept shooting at them, and of course, they missed Ashitaka. Ashitaka took the bow, got an arrow. He drew the bow, ready to fire, because right now, he saw one of the cannibals. He was "bullying" the girl. He just fiercely swung the blade at the girl's clothbag.

"You! Stop!"

He drew the bow. And the weirdest thing had happened: on his arm, where the demon boar had left the deadly curse, the tendons started to appear, huge just like leeches. It ran inside his arm. He scratched his teeth because of his arm's pain, and then let the arrow fly. The arrow flew to his elbow, and tore his arm into two piece. The upper one flew with the arrow, and sticked to the tree. He was very scary and panic because of what had happened. Ashitaka ran through him, and pushed him to the ground. Those "leeches" in Ashitaka's arm started to torture him. He held his arm, closed his eyes tightly.

"My arm! What's happening to me?"

He didn't have time to calm himself down. Because when he turned right, he noticed: 2 samurais was riding a horse and walked side by side with him, waiting for a good moment to kill him.

"Stop him!"

"Hurry! Stop him before he gets away!"

Ashitaka took another arrow out of the quiver, drew the bow, pointed at the 2 samurai. He didn't want to kill anyone, at least the bad guy, so he yelled at them, tried to make them leave.

"Let me pass! I'm warning you!"

But they didn't hear what he said. One of them pointed at Ashitaka, and shot him. But he fell back a bit to dodge the shot. He then drew the bow, and shot another arrow. But this time, the arrow went straight through the evil samurai's neck, and cut his head. The head fell to the ground, together with Ashitaka's arrow. But his body was still there, still holding the horse guards tightly.

'What...what the hell is happening? How can I shoot like that?' He thought, kicked Yakul's body to make him run.

The other samurai, looked in terror.. He pulled the rein so that the horse stopped. The head-cut samurai stopped too, and the body fell to the ground. He watched Ashitaka as he went into the deep forest.

"A demon." His only words.

[**********]

Ashitaka went around in the forest, held his arm tightly. The demon boar's wound was "burning" him. He felt like his arm was being burned. He closed his eyes tightly, feeling the pain inside his arm. Trying to find the closest source of water, he found a small water drops nearby. He made a signal for Yakul, telling him to go to the water drops. When they'd just arrived there, he immediately took the coat and the hood off, put it on Yakul's body. He pulled the right "glove" up, and let the water flow onto his wound. It seemed that the wound had cooled down. Ashitaka let the water flow for like 1 minute, and took it out. His eyes stared blankly at the wound.

"The mark is getting bigger." He said.

It did get bigger. It was eating his arm, now is his elbow. The wound was slowly destroying him, inside out.

'What to do now? The wound is getting bigger. I can feel the pain too... Mom, dad, please help me. Please help me find a way to cure this curse. I hope that you will help me.' He thought.

After feeling better, Ashitaka stood up, put on his coat, covered the face with his hood. He carried the bow, climbed on Yakul's back, and walked out of the forest. When they were going, Ashitaka saw smoke come up, along with noise, more like chattering. He surprised.

'Strange. Why does smoke came up here? Is someone burning the trees? And the chattering too. Or...There is a village here?'

Just as he thought. Stepping for another minute, he realized what he had thought earlier was true. There was a village there, very busy and noisy, of course.

'I don't care whatever we will do. We need to rest now.'

**THE END**

**P/S: Please! R & R!**


	3. Part 3

**It took me 4hr to check the movie again & write this piece in Vietnamese + 2hr to translate to English + 1hr to crap my pants and upload to FF...If it's going to be like this, my head's gonna popped...Thank you everyone so much. I will try my best to upload the new chapter as fast as I can...**

**Thanks for people who help me write this. You guys've given me inspiration to keep writing. Will try to credit if possible ;)**

**Okay, let's continued, shall we?**

**PRINCESS MONONOKE: THE UNKNOWN**

**Part 3**

**(A night with Jigo)**

"Hey! You can't just rush off now. We've only just met. We have got your rice, and everything's fine. You're a man of few words. I understand. Don't you even think of thanking me. It was my pleasure. In fact, I should be thanking you, really. You see, I was caught in that battle. I saw what you did to those samurai. You fight like a demon. Where'd you learn to fight like that?...I see you noticed we're being followed. That's what we get for waving that gold nugget around. They'll wait till we're asleep, then slit our throats. What to you say we give 'em a little demonstration of how fast we can run, huh?"

After that, Jigo – a monk from the Western land, ran first. Ashitaka saw too and run after him. Both of them ran as fast as they could to the forest ahead. The robber running behind them didn't see that coming, so they were left behind.

"Damnit!"

"We lost them!"

"Let's go. Getting inside won't help."

[**********]

Ashitaka along with Yakul and Jigo ran towards the forest in front of them. After having a feeling that they weren't followed anymore, Jigo slowed down, and started to walk. Ashitaka pulled the rein so that Yakul ran slowly. Both of them walked for a while, until sunset approached, and they had to stay in the temple ruin (you know I like that word, temple ruin). Jigo started to pick up the wood to make soup ("soup" here means rice with water, not Western "soup" :P), when Ashitaka pulled Yakul back and tied the rein to a tree nearby. There were a small meadow, so Yakul settled down, and started to eat the delicious and fresh grass, eat like he had been hungry for thousands year. Ashitaka sat on the large rock, and watched Jigo as he put the small pot onto the woods, used the wooden stick to make fire. He put the rice into the pot, and used the water from his bottle (don't ask me where did he found them) for the soup. After pouring the water in, and the water was boiled, as well as the soup, Jigo then used a big spoon, and stirred them up.

"Would you mind telling me what had happened?" Jigo asked, still looking carefully at his delicious pot of soup.

'Well, there will be the time when I have to tell him. Hmm, sooner is better.'

Ashitaka slightly nodded. A smile appeared on Jigo's face. After letting the memory return, he took a deep breath, let it out slowly, and started to tell the story of his life.

"I was a prince of a small remote village. One day, when the village was still peaceful, a demon attacked us. The demon was actually a wild boar. I don't know where it came from. I had to protect the villager, so I fought him, and then it was stuck into my arm, and turned my arm into this..." He pulled his right sleeves up, showing the demon's scars from his arm.

"Hmm...stupid like a cow. Why did you have to do that, idiot..." He whispered, a smirk on his face.

"...following the village's custom, because I was haunted by a demon, so I could no longer live in that village. And I was dead to them. I will have to go the Western land to find a way to cure this curse and to get back to my village." Ashitaka said, sadly looked at the boiling pot of soup in front of him.

After what Ashitaka'd said, Jigo then immediately shut up. It looked like he was regret saying those awful words. He silenced for a while, his hand still stirring the pot of soup. Both of them were silent for like 5 minute, before Jigo stirred the soup harder, and started to say.

"So the demon monster turned out to be a giant boar." Jigo said, constantly stirring the soup.

Ashitaka nodded. "I followed its trail westward through the mountains to where the samurai were attacking those villagers. But then..."

"You lost it. That's life." Jigo cut his words, lifted the big spoon out of the pot, and pointed it at the ruin not so far from them. "See this place here? When I came here last, a few years back, this was a lovely little village. But then there must have been a flood or a landslide or a fire. The only sure thing is that everybody's dead..."

Ashitaka and Jigo both looked at the village's ruin. Right now, Ashitaka felt both sad and angry. He started to have weird thoughts.

'I can imagine how beautiful this place was. But disaster had fallen on their head. It's...Poor the villager. Seriously, no one like these things happen, but then, it's not their choice when these happened. It's because of the gods. Because of all of them (yo dude, I'm a riverspirit. You said that means you talked about me :P)' Then he turned back to Jigo's pot when the old man was trying to stir to pot of soup. The water's evaporation has hardened the soup. 'It's so...they didn't do anything wrong. Why did the god have to do that? If they do that, will they live happy as they wish?'

It seemed that the pot was fine now. The smell was good. Jigo searched in his bag, and took out a small packet. He opened it. Inside, there was something that looked like caramel (caramel? Really? :P). He used to spoon to scoop a bit, and put it into the pot, and continued to stir. Catching Ashitaka's depressed appearance, he started to talk.

"These days, there are angry ghosts all around us, dead from wars, sickness, starvation. And nobody cares. So you say you're under a curse? So what? So's the whole damn world." Then Jigo stirred vigorously for the last, and took the spoon out of the pot, and tasted his own soup that was on the spoon. "Mmm! Ahh!"

Ashitaka was still sitting there, thought of something. He looked at the pot, which smells perfect, and thought of what had happened earlier. His face was slowly "downmood". It seemed that he thought of something that was horrible.

"I was wrong to fight in that village. Two men are dead because of me." He said, the eyes still looked at the pot. 'And I'm regret when having done that...But...'

"Samurai thugs. You win some,you lose some." Jigo put the spoon back into the pot, felt the fantastic smell for the last time, before showing his hand in front of Ashitaka's eyes. "Hand me your bowl." Ashitaka searched in his sack and took out a red bow which he had shared with Kaya when he was still the prince of Emishi village. He handed the bowl to Jigo. "My point is, everybody dies. Some now, some later. From brothel girl to Emperor..." He scooped every single spoon of soup into Ashitaka's bowl. "I've heard them say that the Emperor has promised an entire hill of gold to anyone who can help him live forever."

Then he scooped the last spoon of soup, put the spoon inside the pot, and handed the bowl back to Ashitaka. "Beautiful bowl. I've seen one other like it." At the moment, it seemed that Jigo had something on his mind. "Have you ever heard of the Emishi people? They're said to ride red elks. They also use stone arrowheads just like you." A smirk appeared on his face. "Of course, they were all wiped out 500 years ago." He looked at Ashitaka. An Emishi's traditional calm was still there, on his face. Jigo then took his bowl out, and started to scoop the soup. "Don't worry. I won't tell anyone where you're from." Then he put the spoon back into the pot. "Anyway, I've got much bigger fish to fry."

Ashitaka just sat there, didn't eat anything, just thought of something that went through his mind. The soup on his hand was still warm. It looked like he had remembered something, so he reached his small pocket. 'I hope he will know how to fix this. He'd already known where I came from, then he must know how to cure this curse.' He took the iron ball which Hii-sama gave him and said that it was the one that had killed the boar. He showed the ball in front of Jigo. "Have you ever come across anything like this before?"

Jigo was sinking in his meal, when hearing Ashitaka's voice, he lifted his head. Looking at the iron ball in Ashitaka's hand, he used his chopsticks to grab it, stared for a while with both of his eyes, it seemed to be nonsense at all. "Never have" He said, still looking at the ball, when Ashitaka told about the ball's "legend". "It came from the giant boar. It was inside him.I'm sure it was that little ball of iron that killed him." Jigo admired the ball for another minute, before feeling that he had had a clue about something, and gave the ball back to Ashitaka. Then he continued to eat his soup, every single one of them.

'I think I should tell him everything. Maybe someday he will be useful. He will help me do that.' Jigo thought, keep gobbling his delicious and fantastic soup.

After a while, when his mind was made, he started to talk, hoped that Ashitaka would help him.

"There's a place high in the mountains far to the west of here." Jigo's words had woken Ashitaka up. He did hear the word "west" so he paid his attention absolutely. "It's where the spirit of the forest dwells, and it's a very dangerous place for humans. To enter there is certain death."

Maybe Ashitaka was paying attention more than what Jigo had expected. "The Spirit of the Forest?" 'Maybe there is a way to cure my wound. It's great!' Jigo might have seen Ashitaka's attention about this. He started to make him feel excited, because he was the only one who could help him do the "thing". "I've been told the beasts there are all giants, just as they were in the dawn of time." Then he fell into his delicious meal again, tried his best to finish all the soup. 'I will let you take care of the rest. I can't do anything much. Otherwise everything will be exposed.' He thought, glared at Ashitaka's thoughtful face, a victorious smile on his face.

Ashitaka, still hadn't eaten the soup being made of his rice, he just sat there, like a statue. Thoughts kept appearing on his mind, thoughts after thoughts, every single one was different. He put it aside, started to eat his soup quickly, really quick. Jigo, after giving Ashitaka the only clue, he was extremely silent. He finished one bowl, then he scooped some more, just more and more and more...Meanwhile, Ashitaka just ate exactly 2 bowls like he used to eat. After they were all full (actually only Jigo was the one who was full :P), it was when the pot was empty. Ashitaka still sat thee, thinking of what had appeared on his head. While Jigo went into the bamboo forest nearby, cut down some bamboos, and left it on the ground.

'I'm too old for this now...What the hell...Or?...' He thought, looked at Ashitaka, pretended like he had to carry something that was very heavy. "Uhm, hello...a little bit help here."

Ashitaka heard what Jigo had said, so he stood up, walked towards him, and carry for Jigo 4 gigantic bamboos, when Jigo only carry those thinny 2 sticks. 'This fool is easy to be tricked. Maybe he'll be useful.' Jigo thought, a sneaking smile on his face. Ashitaka kept thinking of what had happened earlier, while there was like 20kg on his shoulder. He thought of other things too. When reaching the destination, he let the bamboo fall, let Jigo do his own thing. Jigo thanked Ashitaka for the bamboos, and started to took the fabric and some cords to make his own bed. When seeing that there were enought bamboos to make another one, he glared at Ashitaka.

"Do you want to get some? If so, just let me do it." Jigo asked.

"No thanks." Ashitaka said, slightly bowed his head, and then walked towards snuggling Yakul. He took the red elk's rein. Jigo could see what Ashitaka was doing then.

"If I were you, I wouldn't do that. There is no crazy man who walk inside the forest in the middle of the night." Jigo said, set his red umbrella up next to his little bed. Ashitaka did think that what Jigo had said did make sense, so he just caressed Yakul's chin, helped him sit down, and took some bread for him to eat.

"You'd better get some sleep. Tomorrow's gonna be a long day." Jigo said, took his only blanket in his bag out, laid on his bed, put on his blanket, and then shut his eyes. "Do whatever you want to. Always have to rest. That's what my master told me..." Then Jigo fell into the misty darkness. Back then, there were only Ashitaka and Yakul who were still awake. When feeling that Jigo was sleeping like dead, he took Yakul's rein, walked him into the nearby bush. Yakul sat down heavily, and so did Ashitaka. He leaned against Yakul's back. Then he started to have incredibly strange thoughts.

'I'm a pure demon now...Well, at least that's what the villagers thought. I'm no longer a human. Anymore. But...what if...what if there is a way to solve everything? Maybe until then will people change their point...Maybe until then will I return to my very own home...I miss you, my poor villagers. I miss you so much...Kaya, I miss you too. Take care of yourself, will you? I have to...I can't...But...Stop it! Don't think nonsense like that. Gotta be strong. Don't be such a weak man like that.' He turned to Yakul, and caressed him. He silently shook his body. Ashitaka smiled at him. 'Thank you very much. Whatever had happened, you still here with me, follow me through every way. I don't know how to make it up to you...It's not fair for you, though. You're involved to all of this. It's my fault. I was wrong...I know your feeling when having to live far away from the one you love...Because that's what I have to go through now...' And then his face once again went "downmood". Tears came from his eyes flew. He used his sleeves to wipe it out. 'O mighty god, I know that I hate you, but please help me overcome all of these curses. Please help me find the right way to get back home.'

Then, Ashitaka laid down, his head was on Yakul's body, and then fell asleep. All of the wars, all of the escape, all of the talks...all of them had drained his strenght. Yakul slowly crept into Ashitaka's arm. He could feel the heat came from his red elk, so he stroked the elk's fur, before falling into the fatal darkness. (I've got the word "Fatal" from "Fatal Tragedy" by Dream Theater...epic song :P).

[**********]

When there was still no signs of the sun, Ashitaka woke up. He went to the river, and splashed the cold water into his face. He could feel the breezing feeling of the water when dawn approached. He gently shook Yakul's body. He was a little bit constrained, seeming to like to sleep a lot. Ashitaka took a small bread out, and put it in front of Yakul's mouth. He could smell the bread, so he woke up immediately, and chewed the delicious bread. Ashitaka smiled, gently caressed Yakul's chin.

"It's good to see that you are awake. I will take a patrol for a while. Will you help me please?"

Then Ashitaka took his red bow and the quiver of arrows, the long knife was still at his waist. He climbed on Yakul's back, and gently kicked his body to let him go. He checked if Jigo was awaken. No. He was sleeping like dead. Then Ashitaka and Yakul went into the forest behind Jigo's place. When hearing the roaring sound, more like a monster marching across the forest, he turned around, and walked away. They entered another forest. Walking from this to another, until when he found a small path next to the river. It wasn't far from where he and Yakul had slept last night. When the patrol was over, he went back to his "camping site". Still notice that Jigo was still sleeping like a pig, he used these precious time to pack his stuffs. No more than 5 minute would he finish packing. He then found a small branch, and used it to draw at the ground to the right of Jigo's bed, to warn him where to go. There were 6 arrows, and 5 of them had a triple exclamation point, it meaned he couldn't go that way. While there was one arrow lied side by side with his bed had nothing.

Jigo opened his eyes, and saw that Ashitaka was preparing for his next journey. He smiled silently, and pretended that he was heavy sleeper. Meanwhile, Ashitaka put on his coat, used the hood to cover his face, leaving the eyes wide open. He carried the bow and the quiver of arrows on his body. The quiver was at the back. The sun was went high right then. The sunshine shone the whole area. Even Yakul could feel the warm of the sun. After everything had been carefully prepared, Ashitaka took Yakul's rein, and walked him outside. He turned around, bowed his head to thank Jigo, and climbed on Yakul's back.

'I will see you soon. Don't worry' Ashitaka thought, before he let Yakul run.

When both of them were disappeared, Jigo opened his eyes.

"See you there, my friend." And then he fell asleep again.

**THE END**

**P/S: Thank you my friend for giving me these ideas in this chapter. I really appreciated...I've been working so hard right now, so the inspiration is draining. I need something to come up if I want to write another chapter. And guess what, your review is the most. Please R & R so I can have ideas to keep writing. Love you all. ;) *giggling***


	4. Part 4

**I can't believe this...while writing this, I listened to the song "Endless Rain" by X Japan...tears just...it's so...I was moved to tears...oh HIDE...why did you leave so early? :((**

**Well I don't want my eyes to hurt any more, let's get to work.**

**PRINCESS MONONOKE: THE UNKNOWN**

**Part 4**

**(First appearance of the Wolf Clan)**

After Ashitaka had left the "camping site" where he and Jigo spent a sleeping night together, he started to walk towards the sun. When it was like midnoon, it began to rain. Down there, he thought the rain was little, wouldn't make him wet. But what happened above his head was so much worse.

[**********]

Half a mile away from where Ashitaka was standing, in the Northwest mountain, at the forest on the hill, it rained very heavily. The sky was pitch black, wind blew everything that was on its way, the fog covered all the way. Under the Hokusai mountain, water blew deadly, every single stream of it. Fog was everywhere. It there were anyone who walked into the forest down there, one thing to make sure is that he wouldn't see anything. Above the deadly fall, right at the smallest cliff of the mountain, a group of people tried to lead the oxen through the cliff. In that group, most was men. They were all so muscular. The strong one stayed at the bottom of the group to push the oxen away. The endurable one went ahead to lead the way. In the group full of men, one person was very special. It's a woman. She was wearing a red hat, a purple coat. And her name, like what villagers said, was Eboshi, the leader of Iron Town. She followed every movement of the men. And no one dared to disobey her.

"Hyah! Move! Hyah!" One man screamed out loud when trying to push an ox. Maybe because the ox was too heavy, the man clenched his teeth and push as hard as he could. 'Common! Hurry up! I'm starved!' This man continued to push. If it weren't of the one with a rod in his hand, this man wouldn't make it so easily like that.

The tough men tried to walk in the heavy and stormy rain. Some had already given up, and was left behind the line. The strong one had to push and lead the oxen. The big and large oxen shivered because of the cold atmosphere then. Not only them, everyone there was cold, very very cold. But they needed to cross this ciff, otherwise they wouldn't have anything to eat. They wanted to eat so so much. In the middle part, an ox was trembled, almost fell into the deep unknown abyss. One of the men standing outside whipped his rod to make the ox go inside.

"Hyah! Come on! Watch the load!" One of them yelled. Maybe everyone was exhausted, both men and oxen. Some of the oxen felk like he didn't have any energy left, so he stood still. Everyone tried to push him, but the ox must be like 1000 pounds, so it took them quite a lot energy and power to push it for just a little bit.

"Push him! Hyah! Ha!" Everyone tried their best to push the giant and abominable oxen. They wouldn't want to move or even sat down. Now the line was slow. And all of the men had a very hard time to push them.

"Common! Push it! Too heavy!"

"It's the same down here! What are you doing up there? We're stuck now!"

"Common...push it...push..."

The tought guys drained all of their energy to push. Eboshi saw them pushing the oxen too. She watched the whole group, and seemed to be pretty disappointed when seeing that everyone had stopped, only a few could walk for a bit.

"They look awful now. Should we rest now?" Gonza, Eboshi's henchman (I got this word when Lin said Haku is Yubaba's "henchman") said, worried aboute the men. But Eboshi ignored him, and force the men to go faster.

"The sooner we get this rice home, the sooner we eat. Let's move!" Maybe Eboshi's words did work. At the front line, both men and oxen seemed to be strengthened, so they started to walk, every single step, one by one. The middle part, only the oxen could walk. The men had already given up and sat down. Only at the last group, despite Eboshi's encouraged words, no one moved.

"What the hell! When will this finish? I'm starving!" A man, must be the same age as Gonza, pushed the ox with all of his strength, showed a pout on his face.

"Calm dowm. Almost there. We just need to go through the next cliff and it will all over."

"Are you kidding me? It's raining like this and you said we had to go through the next ciff. What if we all died?"

"Shut up! Bad luck! Stop talking nonsense like that."

[**********]

"See anything?" The patrol went up ahead, looked around. He was wearing a torn brown man kimono that was thigh-length (sorry, I'm suck at compound words :P), a straw-made coat, and was holding a long wooden stick. On the top of the stick, there was a small iron tube (iron tube?). On the tube carved a very interesting patterns.

"Still nothing. You?" Another patrol just like the other guy, holding a long stick in his hand, looking around while walking.

"Nope. It's hard to see anything when it's raining like this. Even the white spot there. I don't know what it is."

"Where?"

"There! See those 2 white spots that is running?"

"Those aren't spots...It's the wolves! The wolves and...that red mask..."

"The wolf princess!"

Then both of them ran backwards, to where Eboshi was standing to warn her. They screamed out loud while running. "Coming this way! Wolves!" Their words had caused hysteria in the group. Eboshi looked around searching for the wolves' location. At last they found it. 2 white wolves, along with a red mask on their bodies. They were at the opposite mountain, and they were coming very fast.

In Eboshi's groups of men, the oxen were freaked out. They stood still just like their foots were deep inside the ground. The men had had a very hard time to calm the oxen down. But it seemed that the more they tried to do that, the more panic the oxen were. Now the whole line was in a crisis ("Epileptic Crisis" by Nightmare :P). The oxen just mooed, and violently shook their bodies, resulted in the men got even more tired. Eboshi saw that, and started to interfere.

"Don't let the oxen panic! Stay calm!" Then she made a signal to call her "riflemen". "Take up your positions!"

The "riflemen" appeared, with a long wooden stick in their hand. Some of them holding "rifle" went ahead, and the one carrying the gunpowder went after them, holding a small wooden box. Riflemen stood at the edge of the cliff, drawing the stick, ready to fire. The gunpowder men stood after them, blew continuously into the box. The gunpowder's smell went up, together with the smell of the fresh water. Those two combined, and went into everyone's nose. Some of them standing there, coughed fiercely when having to inhale all of the toxic smell.

"Keep your powder dry." Gonza started to do his "captain of the guard" duty. "Make sure you wait for them to come within range!"

The riflemen started to pull the gun's cloth that covered the hole in the tube. Each of them made the small stick inside their hand burn, and let it go out so as to get the fire inside the "flint" to put into the hole to shoot. The gunpowder keeper opened the box, used a small stick to gently stir the stiff gunpowder.

2 wolves with the red mask drew near. They had crossed to the mountain where the group of people marched on. They came closer and closer. The oxen feeling the appearance of the wolves, they started to freak. They mooed, shook their bodies as hard as they could.

"Ready!..." Eboshi said, waiting for a right moment. The wolves had came closer. And of course, that was what Eboshi had thought. She smiled. 'Idiots. You think you can scare me with this?' "Fire!" and then the riflemen started to fire, gunpowder flying from the gun's tube. The 2 white wolves ran across every bushes and tows, and drew even closer.

Those who didn't shoot in the first round, when hearing Gonza's voice "Fire!", they began to fire. All of them were missed, because of the rain so the clearing was not much. The 2 wolves turned around, and divided into 2 ways. The wolf with the red mask on his body led the way. The people on the cliff continued to fire, although all of them were missed. The rain was the most reason why they missed. Maybe because the bullet right then was gunpowder so it couldn't fly too far. When the right moment had came, the red mask showed its hand, pointed at the people, so the wolves turned around again. Those riflemen had already reloaded their guns.

"Second round! Fire!" And then all of them fired. The white wolves sneaked into the smallest space, ran through the leftover roots, ducked every line of fire, tried to come closer. But some of the rifle men shot right in front of them, so they turned around again, but this time, they tried to ran away and be a decoy, not playing like the last time. Riflemen kept shooting at them while the 2 wolves ran around on the hill, tried to duck and hold their feet as long as they could, so that their "leader" could come in time. Riflemen fired mercilessly, and of course, all of them were missed. And then the fog rose up again, and blocked all of the people's range. Eboshi ordered them to stop firing. Gonza felt surprised when everything was too easy like that.

"That was it? They weren't so big..."

"They're just pups. Wait till you see their mother."

Eboshi and Gonza checked every single place, one by one, tried to find any clue of "the mother of the wolves". It rained like pouring (sorry for my wicked English :P), causing the men's vision to worsen. Trees that were chopped everywhere, leaving the roots lying there. The oxen in the line started to moo, and betrayed their own master. It took a while for the oxen to stop mooing and started walking. Gonza looked everywhere, a pout on his face when not seeing anything.

"Where are they?"

And then, whatever they had thought, it had came true. Not far from there, a white shadow flew with a pretty high speed. No one there knew anything, until the shadow came closer. Eboshi saw it, and warn everybody.

"It's Moro!" Then Eboshi drew her gun, violently pull the gun's cloth covering the gun. The enormous white wolf got down to the cliff, and threw everything that was on her way away. Wherever it went, the men and oxen was thrown down to the dark abyss beneath them. The men, the oxen and of course, the load was thrown. Riflemen had retreated and stayed behind Eboshi's back to cover her. Eboshi stood there, flint on her hand.

"Common." Moro maybe had something harmed her, so she shook her feet. When the throwing away thing had finished, she ran towards Eboshi. Closer, and closer, until it was like a feet and a half from Eboshi...The Eboshi fired. The gunpowder from the tube came out so strongly that even the strongest man could be fell because of the gun. The bullet sticked into Moro's chest, but she wouldn't stop. Gonza saw that, so he took the flamethrower from one of the riflemen behind him, and started to fire. Moro when staying in front of Eboshi, burned by Gonza's flamethrower, started to roar.

"You..." Moro clenched her fangs.

"Farewell...idiot." A victorious smile on Eboshi's face.

Then Moro jumped off the cliff. She hit a small tree before falling down to the thick fog below...

"Hahaha! We killed her!" Gonza cheered in happiness, but catching Eboshi's worrying and calm face, so he stopped.

"You forget she is a god. It will take more than that." Eboshi said, her eyes still stared at the thick fog underneath them.

[**********]

The scenery down there was cold and creepy. Up there, Eboshi took her gun away, and looked at the line of people. There were only a few now. The dead is quite considerable.

"She certainly did some damage." Gonza looked at the line, and started to complain. In the line now, the oxen should be like 5. There weren't many men more. Everyone tried their best to calm all the oxen. But it seemed that there was no way to do that.

"We move out now." Eboshi said, making Gonza surprised.

"What about the men she pushed over the cliff?" Gonza asked, looked at the cold Eboshi.

"They're dead. Let's get the living home." Then Eboshi left. Her riflemen followed her, leaving Gonza there, yelled at people, tried to expedite everyone to go faster. "Push it harder. Hurry up so I can eat."

"Then you come here and help us. Don't stand there and talk nonsense."

"You..."

[**********]

The 2 wolves along with the red mask ran towards the Eastern thigh fog to reach the mountain's foot and find their mother. What they didn't expect is that they would meet the one that would change their life forever...

**THE END**

**P/S: As you can see, I've added a word "Hokusai". It's the name of a famous Japanese artist. I like his work :)...OMG, my eyes...It's gonna popped now. I need to rest soon since I has drunk like 2 cups of coffee. Please R & R so I can have inspiration ok? Love you guy *kiss***


	5. Part 5

**OMG, my head...It's killing me these days. It's so hurt that I can't do anything properly...Please, R & R, so my head can be less hurt ;)**

**Ok, let's get started.**

**PRINCESS MONONOKE: THE UNKNOWN**

**Part 5**

**(Ashitaka first met San)**

(Part 4's continued) Every single ruin that was left after the "sweep" up on the cliff followed the stream and flew away. After the deep, cold and deadly fog was a wonderful and peaceful atmosphere. Sunshine went through every gap of the leaves, reflected the water's beautiful color. On the water surface, the little and tiny rocks laid scatteredly, tried to show a path across the river. When approaching at the brink of the river, what Ashitaka saw surprised him. Dead bodies and oxen, along with the load followed the stream and flew past his eyes. Ashitaka watched as the bodies went, and suddenly, he saw a man lying at those hard and pointy stones. He was fainting.

'There is definitely something happened.'

Ashitaka came closer, and put his hand on the man's nose. Feeling his soft and interrupted breath, he sighed in relief.

"He's still breathing." Then Ashitaka took his bow away, took the man's hand, slowly lifted him up, and dragged him to the shore. "Hang on." He dragged, used his small handkerchief to sweep the water on the man's eyes away, then turned around, jumped through every rocks, and stopped right in front of the other man's bodies. He lifted that man up, his head laid at the rock as a good position, and put him on his shoulder. He walked back to where he had been, and put the man's bodies onto the ground.

He used his hand to lift the man's eyelids, watched it carefully, and then sighed.

"This man is blind."

Then he used his handkerchief that he had used to clean the normal man's eyes, tore it into half, and used one piece to cover this man's eyes, just like the Emishi's custom. After having done everything, he checked everything again. It was a moment of time when he heard a strange noise came from somewhere. He turned around, the hood still covered his face, leaving the beautiful yet calm eyes. He looked around to find where the sound had started. He stared blankly at the big rock that was not far from him. He ran towards it, jumped through the small rocks, and stopped.

'It's not good to show myself like this.'

Then he ran into a small bush that was made of branches and leaves, and stay there, waiting for a breeze to flow. He watched the forest opposite to him carefully. He inhaled fast, but exhaled so slowly.

'Definitely. I did hear something.' He proclaimed. 'I've never wrong. Ever.'

And then, what he had thought became reality. From a bush inside the forest, a gigantic white wolf stepped out. She looked so weak, walking unsteadily. In her chest, a quite big hole was starting to bleed. She walked out, strolling the area for a moment of time before stopping, and headed towards the bush where she had came out (I'n not sure about this part). Then from the same bush, 2 white wolves stepped out. They seemed smaller than the muddy-white wolf. They tried to get the big wolf to stand. (Well, I think we should let the P.O.V do its work, okay? ;))

[**** ***** ***]

/God damned humans. They even dare to shoot me. Ow...why is it hurt so much like this? Is this iron ball that hard when it hit?/ Moro growled, walking around in unconsciousness. At that same moment, the two white wolves, Moro's pup, walked out. They tried to help their mother get up.

/Don't do anything so hard, mother. Otherwise the wound will be bigger./

/Yes, mother./

/My dear boy. It's time I told you the tradition of the Wolf Clan. When we fight against human, even when we have to be hurt so bad, killed, murdered, we will stand still, and don't fall under those human's feet...Ow.../

/Mother!/

Then suddenly, in the bush, San walked out. Seeing her mother's terrible and hurtful wound, she then ran towards the wound, lifted the mask that was covering her face, look blankly at the wound.

'It doesn't look so bad. I can get it in no time.'

Then she took a deep breath, and let it out slowly. After that, she used her teeth, trying to bite the iron ball. There was no sign of the ball, but blood now filled her mouth. When her mouth was full of her mother's blood, she turned out, and spitted it out. She kept doing that one more, and one more, until she noticed her mother's growl, staring at the big rock in front of her. San turned around, blood still on her mouth. She looked at the big and dull rock.

[********* ***]

Ashitaka looked at the Wolf Clan standing in front of him, watched their every movement, everythind they did, especially the appearance of a girl with a red mask, a white tunic and a purple dress. What caught his attention was the sign of Mononoke – 3 red triangles that was on her face. Now the whole clan was looking at where he was hiding. Collecting the leftover courage, he tried to calm himself down.

'Well, I have nothing to lose now. Let's do this.'

The he stood up, climbed on the rock, and pull the hood that covered his face down, showing a quite handsome and intelligent face but filled with sorrows and sadness. He used his last strength to scream out loud.

"My name is Ashitaka! I have traveled far from lands to the east. Are you ancient gods, and have I come at last to the realm of the Spirit of the Forest?"

He watched every single wolf that stared at him. It seemed that they were grinding their fangs, showing those deadly and sharp teeth. They wanted to kill him, because he was a human, and the Wolf Clan and humans are the two deadly enemies. But not San. She looked at Ashitaka, a curious filled with surprised, angry and a little bit "warm" look on her beautiful and bloody face.

'Who is this human? Why is he staring at me like that? Why did he look so alike? Maybe he's one of the Shishigami's creation? But...no way...I hate human. I'm a wolf and I hate humans. Why do I have these thoughts? These are human's thoughts. No. I'm a wolf!' San thought, looked carefully at Ashitaka.

'A girl in the forest? How is that possible? Is she the leftover, or she's one of them, a human wolf? She's drinking the wolf's blood, so she isn't normal. Definitely...But others have died, why is she...It's impossible...But she's so beautiful. It's hard to find another one like her here.' Ashitaka thought, a calm and peaceful look on his face.

After what seemed like hours, Moro turned away, and left. San climbed on one of the wolves' back. 'Sorry...' She thought. "Go away!" And then she got out with one of the wolves, while the other bit the dead ox and pulled it away. Ashitaka's heart was beating super fast now. A warm feeling overwhelmed his body. He slightly smiled.

'What a beautiful girl. But the wolves...they had...'

When he was still thinking about the "sunshine in his heart", the scream of the livings woke him up.

"AAAAAAAA!"

**THE END**

**P/S: It's a bit short, since my mind is empty now. I need to refill my inspiration. So please, R & R. With your review, inspiration will come back in no time.**


	6. Part 6

**Oh yeah! Finally, Haku has come back! It's been a very very hard time, and it's gonna be harder. :P I did want to get rid of this FF, but second thought, there are too much mysteries waiting to be solved, so final decision: finish everything. Hope it's not too bad. :P**

**Alright, let's continued.**

**PRINCESS MONONOKE: THE UNKNOWN**

**Part 6**

**(Shishigami no Mori)**

"AAAAAAAAA!"

Ashitaka turned around immediately, and ran super fast to the place where he put the 2 man's bodies. When approaching, he saw that one of them had awoken. This man, his face went green with sickness, and he was wearing a light brown kimono that was knee-longed. It was torn a bit, maybe because he had gone on a fight. He crept backwards, screaming dissonantly, pouting like a kid. His broken right arm was dragged. Until Ashitaka look to his left, maybe what he saw was what made him happy most: a Kodama. He smiled, almost reached out to touch the little spirit before throwing that idea away.

"A Kodama! I never thought I'd see one of them here."

The man was still pouting and moaning in fear. At that moment, he cursed the white "ghost", trying to life his right arm to cover his eyes, but he knew that it was broken. Ashitaka came near, sat down, and tried to calm him.

"Oh, no, no, no, no!" He continuously shook his head, tried to make the Kodama go away with his mind, but it didn't work.

"Easy there. You don't want to make your injuries worse, do you?" Ashitaka said, tried to smile with him.

The man kept saying. "Oh, no, no..." and looked straight through the Kodama. Maybe, because it wanted to show its friendliness, he leaned his head, and then released, creating a funny "clicking" sound that made a whole area become exciting (my English sucks!). Ashitaka smiled, and gently patted the man's shoulder.

"He's a tree spirit. He brings good luck. It's a sign this forest is healthy." Ashitaka looked at the man's frightful gaze. It seemed that there was something inside of his eyes, maybe it was worse than just fear when thinking that he was dead.

The man look around, moaning endlessly.

"But they'll lead their lord and master right to us."

It looked like Ashitaka had made heads or tails of something.

"Who do you mean? You mean those wolves I just saw?" Ashitaka immediately thought of the wolves he had met, along with the girl who went with them. He was a little bit "sidetrack", but finally awake.

"No, I mean a real monster, like a huge enormous deer..." And the Kodama stood up. He seemed not to be so interested in this story. "...Except they say it's got a human face sometimes, and then at night they say it..." And the Kodama turned around, and disappeared. "AAAAA! Where'd it go?"

Ashitaka looked around, and he saw a group of Kodamas started to appear quickly. The man looked around, and then stopped in front of a white Kodama which was sitting on Yakul's back. When seeing the man's eyesight, the Kodama leaned its head, and did the funny "clicking" sound. But he replied the "clicking" by a speechless scream. (suck!)

"AAAAA! Look! Reinforcements! We're doomed!" The man moaned in fear. Ashitaka took this chance, observe both Yakul and the tree spirit sitting on his back. He smiled.

"If Yakul's not afraid, then we have nothing to worry about here." He slightly nodded his head, responding the white spirit's greeting. He stood up, and came close to the spirit. The Kodama cringed when Ashitaka stood in front of him.

"Would you be kind enough to grant us passage through your forest, little one?" Ashitaka smile when seeing the little Kodama turned around, and disappeared. "I'll take that as a yes."

He turned around, and walked towards the man, wouldn't stop moaning like beggar. He gently lifted this man up, and helped him stand. Although there was no problem about his legs, when he stood up, he just screamed, more than a fallen baby (that's true :D). Ashitaka catched him, and took him to a nearby tree to stand. He took a small bandage out of his pocket.

"You are badly wounded. I can't help you much with this, but at least I can't make this wound less "lacerated" then." Then he searched the whole area, picked up 2 quite thick stick, and returned to the place where the man was standing.

"Straight your arm." He said, held the man's right arm. But he withdrew, denied the help from a stranger to him. "It's ok. I won't hurt you." Then he took the man's arm, and lifted it with extreme gentleness (gentleness?), his other arm assisted from below. The man screamed in great pain, but when there was a stick under his arm, the pain was gone. When Ashitaka put the second stick onto his arm, and used the small bandage to tie up, then the man started saying.

"Kohroku."

Ashitaka was so enthusiastic about dressing the wound of his arm that he didn't hear what the man had just said.

"Excuse me?"

"Kohroku. That's my name."

Ashitaka finished the last knot of the first bandage.

"I'm Ashitaka. Prince of the Emishi." He used his little finger to push the string through a little hole, and finish the knot. "Done! Now try to move your arm."

Kohroku followed Ashitaka's word, and slowly lifted his arm. He did gnash his teeth when the arm was lifted, but it stopped. Being proud of his victory, he looked at his left, and saw a small Kodama leaning its head, and made the amusing "clicking" sound. He startled, as a result of the pain of the broken arm returned. The arm hit Yakul's body, made him startled, while he was moaning because the arm right then was more painful. Ashitaka shook his head, and took out another fabric.

"It still hasn't healed. Don't do anything fancy." Then he used the fabric to make a circle around the wound right onto Kohroku's arm, and put the fabric over his shoulder. Kohroku did let out a small scream, but stopped when catching Ashitaka's serious gaze. Ashitaka put the fabric over Kohroku's shoulder, used the leftover to tie a knot at his shoulder. "It's done now. You can do everything normally now, but not too tough."

Kohroku stood up, still felt a little bit dizzy because of the wound draining his energy. He bowed his head to show his gratitude to Ashitaka, and let out a restraint hiccup. Ashitaka smiled, turned to see the Kodama. When seeing the Kodama make the "clicking" sound again, he nodded, and turned to Kohroku, who was completely infatuated with Ashitaka's every knot.

"I think we should go. It's about time." Ashitaka said, grabbed the bag and put it onto Yakul's back.

"What? Now? Through the forest?" Kohroku asked, almost jumped out of the tree, imagined the vision when he was surrounded by a sea of Kodamas. He shrugged, almost cried out loud.

"We have no choice. It has to be like that." Ashitaka said, pulled his right sleeve up, walked to the nearby stream, used his hand to take the water, and gave the blind man a drink. "You climb on Yakul's back. I'll take care of this man."

After everything had been prepared, both 3 of them headed towards the forest. The Kodama then stood up, made a signal for them to follow. Ashitaka walked in first, he was carrying the blind man on his back. Kohroku sat on Yakul's back, his left hand grabbed the bridle. And the three of them get to the very deep of the forest.

-[]-

It's just like what they said, there was something strange about this forest. The trees were oddly tall. Branches ran to everywhere, only left a few holes on top of the forest so the light could shine through the darkened land. The roots of the cut trees laid here and there, along with the leaves, broken branches and vines all on it. There was only one path to walk through the forest, made it difficult to travel. The thing stuck in their feet was only hardened argil. Even Ashitaka could feel the "pain" on his feet. The trunk grew very long branches, and up there, the Kodama was sitting, watching the prince along with the injured man made a stroll. When seeing a Kodama running in front of them and shook his head to make a signal, then all of a sudden, a whole swarm of little Kodama went on leading the way. They ran and formed a line along the road. There was a "fat" Kodama, trying to copy what Ashitaka was doing by carrying another Kodama on its back. The rest of them just ran like the wind underneath. Wherever they went, the Kodama sitting on the trees shook their heads, making the "clicking" sound that cause a whole chaos of sound in the atmosphere. Kohroku sat on Yakul's back, when seeing the Kodama running past him, he shivered.

"Sir, I really think we should turn around now. I wonder, did I mention that no humans have ever made it through these woods alive? There's a lovely trail back across the river." Kohroku said. His face turned green with sickness because of the Kodama underneath him.

"The current's too swift for us to get across." Ashitaka tried to say while getting some air. He had to carry a wounded person on his back, so he must have been very tired. "And your friend's injuries are very bad. If we don't get him back soon, he doesn't have a chance." Ashitaka said, taking another step forward to get to a small uphill. Seeing a Kodama running forward and smile and nip up the stairs, he smiled. "Hey, little fellow, are you showing us the way or just getting us more lost?"

Maybe carrying someone when climbing an uphill was quite difficult to him. He climbed on, step to step. Sweat poured on his face. When he got on top of the hill, he stopped, almost fell on his knees, and gasped for air. The sweat on his face fell to the ground, and slowly turned to a edgy black. When he was thinking that he couldn't make it because he was too tired, he looked to his left. A "thin" Kodama was carrying a "fat" Kodama on its back, climbed slowly onto the top. He smiled.

'Even a Kodama can do that, then why can't I? Have to move on.' He thought, and stood up and continued to walk. It wasn't until the picture of the small Kodama that he had his strength back. Kohroku was still at the foot of the hill, shivered when noticing that the number of Kodamas was increasing.

"Please, sir, I'm really pretty sure they're not trying to help us get home. Oh, my God! There's thousands of them."

But those words wouldn't make Ashitaka dispirit. He kept on moving forward, silently laughed at the trick that the Kodama did that entertained him, like the "thin" one carried the "fat" one, or 2 Kodamas pretended to be Yakul and Kohroku when they were down the hill, or the 2 Kodamas made a few spinning and end up hitting each other. After a few more steps, the sight of Kodama was nowhere to be seen. He looked up, and saw that the Kodamas were running to the top of a enormous tree. He stood there and admired how giant and how big the tree was.

"Look at that. That must be their mother, a fine old tree."

And with those words, their journey just had passed half way through. They reached a swamp – it could be the darkest place – in the very center of the forest. It wasn't like what Ashitaka had seen back in those days when he was the prince of Emishi. This place not only had something very strange, but also very "bewitching". The view to the other side of the swamp is blinded. There were only a few spots up on the top that shone weakly. These were the forests that noone dared to come in. On the top floor, the trees grew exuberantly. They covered nearly all of the light, only left a few holes. The trunk wasn't as fat as earlier. These trees' trunk was pretty thin, but they had very many leaves. At the bottom floor was a small lake, some "island" laid here and there. At the bottom of the lake, the sand floor was very thick, so if you just made a glimpse, you would see that the lake was very "green" and fresh. Cut trees took nearly the whole area. This laid on the other. It had to be that there had been someone came here to cut down the tree. Ashitaka witnessed the weird beauty of the forest. Maybe in his opinion, this was so beautiful that he uttered.

"Oh. This place is magical."

He took another step, feeling that there was a hole under his feet. He looked down. When noticing that he was standing on a hole, he pulled his foot backward, showing a footprint, more than a human footprint – his footprint, along with 2 wolf-life footprint. He smiled when seeing the footprint of the "wolf girl" that he had seen back when he was at the river.

"The tracks of those wolves and the girl with them." He looked up and searched around the deep and dark eternal atmosphere for the place where the girl lived, but there was no sign of it. "This place must be where the four of them live."

Kohroku had climbed onto the top. When he saw a kind yet a little bit thoughtful look on Ashitaka's face, he was a bit worried, so he called the prince, made him get out of his daydreaming and return to the reality.

"Sir, I think maybe we took a wrong turn somewhere. This is a place for gods and demons."

But Ashitaka didn't mind it. He stepped on the nearest cliff, gently put the body of the man on his back down to the ground, and put his arm together. He placed his hand in front of the man's nostril, and sighed in relief when feeling the soft yet interrupted breath. He walked towards the place where Yakul was standing, searching for his red bowl in his rucksack which he used to have a delicious meal with Jigo, walked to the lake. He pulled his hood down.

"I think we're safe. We'll rest a bit." Then he threw his bowl onto the water. He pulled it up once, shaked the bowl, and threw it onto the water again, and pulled it up like the last time. The bowl was filled with water then. He lifted his eyes a bit, and saw another footprint, unlike the footprint that he had seen earlier.

"More tracks?" He wondered, while his eyes was still stick to the footprints. "Whatever made these..." He looked up, looked at everything around him. "...made them recently."

He looked around, checked every single space he could see, searched for a piece of news about what had caused the footprint. He looked through every gap in the very deep of the wood, glared at the sunshine across the secret place, and then stopped before a whole yellow scenery that caught his eyes. He looked carefully, and at last, he saw, right there, a herd of deers marched through his gaze. Every single one of them walked pass, although they were small when looking from far away, but maybe they were even bigger than an elephant. He stared at them, narrowed his eyes to see better. And then, their leader showed up. He was bigger than the other. He had more antlers, maybe three times or four times more. He walked this step to another, the gleaming yellow light stood there shone even brighter. And all of a sudden, he turned, and saw Ashitaka...

He let out a small shriek. In spite of his extreme hospitality towards a stranger in the forest, the wound on his arm seemed to be not so friendly. It started to lose itself. The tendons appeared like snake under his arm. His biceps grew grotesquely bigger. He used his strength to hold it, used his left hand to squish his arm. When everything seemed to over, the wound on his arm broke free again. This time, his whole body was on fire. He lathered, his left hand still tried to squish the right arm tightly. The deer still looked at him, made Ashitaka suffer from pain and torment. When a flash light appeared in Ashitaka's head, he threw the wound onto the water. Sweats from his face fell to the water surface, and faded away. The wound struggled for the last time, before withdrawing and finally gave up. That was when the deer left, and the yellow light disappeared, leaving a cold and dark space...

He sighed in relief because the wound was no longer torture him. He pulled his arm up, his right hand still held the bowl full of fresh water. He stood up, and walked to the place where the blind man was lying. Kohroku had seen everything from head to toe. Maybe right now he was scarer than earlier when he saw the Kodama.

"Uh, sir, what just happened there? You went white as a sheet all of a sudden. I warned you about this place."

But Ashitaka ignored the man's rspectful words. He sat down, put the bowl down to the blind man's mouth. "Here." The man lifted his head up, and started to drink the morning's fresh water.

"Did you see anything just then?" He asked, his hand still hold the bowl for the man to drink.

"Like what?" Kohroku jerkily asked.

"Forget it." Maybe to Ashitaka, it's no use talking too much about this. He laid the bowl to the ground, cover the man's head, and gently placed it to the ground. "Hang on just a little longer. You're almost home."

The man sighed.

"I failed her..." The man whisper. Ashitaka was listening every words he said, trying to get more information about the place where he would come. But the man fell asleep again. He sighed in hopelessness. The prince turned around, looked at the silence of the swamp.

"It's gone...whatever it was." He said, his eyes still watched over the place where the big deer had walked pass and watched him suffer from his dreadful pain. "I think we should go. We're almost there."

Kohroku, was sitting on Yakul back, heard what Ashitaka said. He almost jumped out of Yakul's back, caused the pain from his arm made a contact with his body. He scream in pain.

"But we don't know the way. And beside, what if you stuck into a trouble like...whatever you call, sir?" Kohroku worrily watched Ashitaka. He was trying to pack his stuff, gave the Yakul his last piece of bread, gently lifted the blind man's body up, and carried him on his shoulder.

"There must be a reason why that deer appear. I think we should go. It's better that way." Ashitaka said.

"But that deer make you...like this. And you still want to follow it? What if everything get worse?"

"What do you mean 'worse'? Beside, he can't do anything. Stop talking and start moving your body. Let's go."

-[]-

Ashitaka decided to choose the road up ahead, where the sunshine was blinking, challenging his curiosity. On his shoulder was the blind man. He made this step to another across the small "island" on the surface. Kohroku sat on Yakul back, so he had to feel the chill of the water since Yakul can't jump through rocks. His feet froze. He gritted his teeth almost constantly, causing Ashitaka to think that there were still Kodamas following them. When both of them walked to the other shore of the lake and get out, maybe the strangest thing happened to them. He felt like there was a calf on his back, not a human anymore. He walked so softly just like a feather, walked from this to the other trail. And Kohroku sat on Yakul's back, the breeze disappeared. His arm seemed to be greatly healed. He did try to move his arm, and he didn't feel anything. He silently smiled.

Ashitaka climbed on the uphill ahead. Now, the distance from where they were to the "bright side" of the forest was shorter and shorter.

"That's strange. Suddenly he doesn't feel heavy at all." Ashitaka said, his face was a complete surprise when he walked very softly.

Kohroku started to grin, moving his injured arm. Now he could assure that his arm wasn't hurt anymore. (but actually it still hurt, not healed.)

"My arm! It doesn't hurt!" Then Kohroku strongly threw his arm up to the sky. "It's healed!" But he had to take it down because of a funny "cracking" sound. "No, it's still broken."

Ashitaka laughed at the man's silliness. The two of them walked for another 15 minutes before they reached a quite green meadow ahead. Ashitaka enjoyed the wonderful view there, with a superbly fresh river. On the river surface, there were a few small "island", but one of them, maybe the biggest one, stood the smoking "fortress". Smoke came out thickly from the "fortress". When seeing the shape of humans inside the "fortress", he started to stay alert. At that moment, Kohroku had just stepped out of the forest, and the first thing he could say when returning to his own home.

"Sir, you were right. We made it back home just like you said!"

**THE END**

**P/S: My eyes! Please R & R!**


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